A New No. 8 Engine for the BVLC (On30 scatchbuild)

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
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I’m afraid this post must start on a bit of a sad note. A couple of years ago, I used a 3D printed cab and scratchbuilt water tank to convert a Bachmann On30 2-6-0 to a 2-6-2 saddle tank engine. Although it looked good, it didn’t run as well as I would have liked. A few weeks ago, I took it apart to try to tune it up, and add a currentkeeper to improve power pickup. Unfortunately during this, it took an accidental express trip to concrete junction. Most of the damage was to the body, and I did try to repair it. Unfortunately, my efforts were not successful.

As such, I decided to build another no. 8. Given that the original mechanism hadn’t been running properly even before the accident, I decided to start completely from scratch. However, the new no. 8 would be a similar design to the original.

I started out with the mechanism from a Bachmann HO scale 2-6-2 Prairie, identical to the one I’d previously used for my Pebble River Mining #28 side-tank engine. I’ve found that this is a reliable, robust mechanism. Most of my approach to this build was the same as what I did for #28.

I started by cutting some 1.5mm styrene to fit around the chassis, then added a dropped cab floor at the rear. I then added brass bar around the edges of the main footplate, to reinforce it.

Following this, I found the PVC pipe I’d used for the tank of the original no. 8 and cut another piece of it to length. After cutting it in half lengthwise, I sanded it smooth and glued some 4mm x 4mm styrene strips onto the bottom of it. Once this was dry, I cut some 0.25mm styrene sheet to size and glued it around the tank. A

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Now that is a nice little loco… Were the rivets difficult to apply?

Simon

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Simon,

Not really. They were rivet decals. The only problem I had with them was that the decal softening solution I tried the first time was too weak. After I used a stronger solution, they set without any issues.

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Great-looking little loco, Danny, and very nicely done!

The rivet decals apply similar to regular lettering decals, but sometimes the decal film is difficult to get settled flat, especially if the decals were sliced from the sheet: the slicing action often raises the edges alongside the cut, making them less responsive to setting solutions.
When possible, I slice the needed portion well away from the rivet detail (or image, for regular lettering), then, working on a hard surface, user a sharp blade to chop-off the excess. This pushes down the cut edge, making setting easier.

I used that technique to add rivets to this brass tender…

…since it had cuts in both sides where a previous owner had attempted to modify the coal bunker’s sides. After repairing the damage, much of the photo-etched rivet detail had been sanded off, so I sanded off the remainder and replaced it with the rivet decals.

The first time that I used rivet decals was when I changed the bracing on a Train Miniature boxcar from a Howe truss style…

… to a Pratt truss…

I use Solvaset fo

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Thanks!